Hey Mathematician (2017) – lyrics

Old Glory

Well I only took this route
Cos the old man on the corner pointed
With his crooked and weakened finger
And his sad story, full of old glory.
And his simple knowledge of the good things
And his brutal depiction of the bad.

Cos there’s no advice like wisdom
No direction like the path well-trodden
There’s no speech with the weight of an elder’s
No easier decision than your fate
Cos there’s nothing so attractive as your destiny
There’s no touch like your current lover’s hand
There’s no love like the one who sees right through you,
Reaches down, picks you out of the crowd.

Well I only took this route
Cos the old man on the corner pointed.
With the sweetest of smiles to remind me
That he broke all the boundaries just like me
And my death is a chasin’ up behind me.
That’s why I only need lovers beside me
That’s why I only want lovers beside me

Elevate Me (Smoke)

Elevate me to your status quick
I don’t enjoy breathing air this heavy and thick –
Heavy with the anger of a thousand alarms

What a game it is that you spend your days on
Do you see the little tint in this flood
Cos Every now and then I see a pool of blood

So don’t tell ’bout your great idea
This smoke, it’s crystal clear

Been thinking ’bout the places that I want to be
You been all around here lying through your teeth
Everyday the joke is getting closer to me

So I lie beneath the verdant oak tree
Bearing the fruit you consume in the morn
Babies sat in wombs too fucking scared to be born

So don’t tell ’bout your great idea
This smoke, it’s crystal clear

Billy’s Funeral

Well I had much better than a bad life,
I tell my friends and foes.
I had no pick of the women,
But I took a few of them home.
So don’t cry for me at no funeral or wake,
Chase up them dreams and the plans you make.
You have but a finite number of seconds so cry for the right ones.

And I missed the last of my children
Buck off his first enemy
And I miss the sight of my lady
Softly smiling at me.
But the riches I knew in the time that I had,
I’ll take with me in a bindle bag.
I came here alone with a clenched-up fist
And I’ll leave the same way.

But nothing burned so deep into my memory
None of the people I met
You were my only retreat
Nothing burned so deep into my memory
You, that love of my life
You, my cradle of dignity

And I should have stayed in the country,
I tried living in cityscapes.
Well I’ve gotten away with a few scams,
Had a few lucky escapes.
But it was there that I met the lady I knew,
From the first moment, she’d carry me through.
Could say I’m lucky but it’s not the right word
Cos I lived a charmed life.

And I chipped away at the rock face –
Lined pockets of bureaucrats
Suited their backs with my hardship
While keeping my pride intact.
Cos when you walk alone to the end of your street
And a brick wall’s the only companion you meet
It stares back at you like brushed plate of silver
And quotes you your weight in gold.

But nothing burned so deep into my memory
None of the people I met
You were my only retreat
Nothing burned so deep into my memory
You, that love of my life
You, my cradle of dignity

Shipwreck

It’s just a matter of opinion
If the rules tie us down or they make us stronger
I’ve seen the toughest person I ever knew
his brain in the gutter and his heart in two.
Over a choice that really should’ve made him glad
He couldn’t get together and it all went bad

You know the light inside that never goes out
I put a blanket over it to feel good in a crowd
You know the one, it never goes away
We sit in offices and we quell it every day.
It’s like I hold a pistol like a baton in my hand
I could pass it on or step out and kill a man.

My pains on repeat, it goes echo
Like the advert’s louder than the TV show
I’m not in tune with the tick of this locale
So I leave it whenever I’m allowed
The bridges fail when we go to cross the water
We’re too lonely to raise sons and daughters
Everybody’s trying to get their pace in check
The only thing they’re doing is bailing out water in this shipwreck
This shipwreck
This shipwreck
This shipwreck

Well I still go searching for beauty
For the giving eyes that I see on your face
I still got time for creations
That disturb me, take me out of this place

I ain’t got time for a preacher
a hero or a teacher
The enemy, it’s within this beast
In it’s grabbing hands, in its nature.

My pains on repeat, it goes echo
Like the advert’s louder than the TV show
I’m not in tune with the tick of this locale
So I leave it whenever I’m allowed
The bridges fail when we go to cross the water
We’re too lonely to raise sons and daughters
Everybody’s trying to get their pace in check
The only thing they’re doing is bailing out water in this shipwreck
This shipwreck
This shipwreck
This shipwreck

We are 40 Now

This is demon time, and this city crumbles, under weight of stacks of money stumbles
In the streets you hear a little less chat, cos nobody can be bothered with the grumbles anymore
We run around like pinballs, and there’s nothing found in these packed halls.
When the curfew comes the place is silent, like we just got handed threats of violence
By the boys in blue, oh I’m just like you, I just lose my voice and then I find it

And our leaflets soak with the winter leaves
So tired and limp as we lay down.
Sending dvds to refugees
The ridiculous things we try to play down

We are 40 now and we got the kids
What do we do now what a joke it is
You can hide yourself behind your money belt
Take it in the chest with the forsaken rest
Sunken London look, we are losing it
drinking way too much, thinking way too small.
And my tinder’s full of bearded lunatics,
Mincin’ round in threes in H&M kits
We are 40 now
We are 40 now
We are 40 now – elements all in place
See my sinking shoulders and my swollen face
This banana skin in the recycling bin
Is today’s righteous act of rebellion

And our leaflets soak with the winter leaves
So tired and limp as we lay down.
Sending dvds to refugees
The ridiculous things we try to play down

Water For Blood

Don’t ask that question of me
You already know my answer will be a lie.
Your blade is red when it enters me,
We both know you want a colourful life
So you’ll see when you pull it out it’ll be blue
My blood is no thicker than water, not even for you

Like a couple of ghouls with water for blood
Let’s go strolling in the desert.
Drained of life and drenched to the skin
With guilt and unforgiveable sin
And the words I sing so loud are untrue
My blood is not thicker than water, not even for you

The fangs come out and our wings get clipped
Screaming at you with a criminal’s script
Singing ‘don’t make me feel bad and pint at me like I’m funny,
I don’t break hearts for money, I just need something to do,
My blood is no thicker than water, not even for you.’

It’s an elegant dance like a fight ‘tween dogs
This is no game, but we have both lost
And I invented her and she invented me
Read into what you like, don’t believe what you see
And that’s my only unbreakable rule
My blood is no thicker than water, not even for you

The Cold of The Night

She came to me, mysterious, alone,
Ready to fight for this occupied throne
Bleaker in the mid than I’d ever seen at home,
Stronger in her heart than I’d ever felt or known.
And this kind of love is the guide I never wanted.

Always in the night, with broken shutters drawn –
Our confidences ripped and our good natures torn.
Hidden from the world in a land of scorn,
In the fires of disaster, that’s where our love was born.
And this kind of love is the guide I never wanted,
But it teaches me the lessons that I need.

And all evidence has told me I should be leaving
But the cold of the night never lets me go
And all she ever asks me is do I share this feeling
Well I’m bound to her forever but I’ll never let her know.

Always after dark, with anger in my eyes,
Sadness in my heart, resolution in my cries
I mean to steal away, into the night so black
To the car that will not take me towards a train-less track
Cos this kind of cold is the friend I never wanted

Well I know I let you down and my virtue’s weak as sin
But I am just a learner – unaccustomed diving in
This future is not good, it is black as darkest night
But as long as I’ve got you babe I know we’ll be alright
Cos this kind of cold is the friend I never wanted

And all evidence has told me I should be leaving
But the cold of the night never lets me go
And all she ever asks me is do I share this feeling
Well I’m bound to her forever but I’ll never let her know.

Shackles

You wanna talk to me about shackles?
Well I found yours lying on the ground
Beside the empty bottles of gin

You’ll never say the words to release me
No, you’ll never work up the spine
That’s why my life will never begin

You talk as if I never had any dreams
Well the orchestra’s in front of me
And the sweetest music will not play

You say you wanna talk to me about choice
Well you never made one in your life
That’s why we’ve gotta live this way

Well I used to be top of your list now I’m lucky if I make it at all
We assembled a life round a kiss now and I don’t wanna hate it

Well God knows the only potion
To make the girl I love go weak
Is my lack of devotion – my willingness to let this be.
And she laps it up like a sweet drug
And I’ve got enough to go around.

Well this girl is not a human
She is an angel with a wounded wing
Dressed in black like a mourner
Stood naked with the grace of a king
And I step myself away now,
To move toward her is desire for pain.

Oh your love, well ain’t this a cruel ministry
Love don’t think of poetry
Well ain’t this a cruel ministry
So think of last rites and set me free

Well I’d compare you to a priestess
You have inherent all the things I need
And you deign to satisfy me
No more often than your womanhood bleeds
And I need my independence,
How else would I build up the energy, for her to be attracted,
to make worthy of her cruel ministry?

Oh your love, well ain’t this a cruel ministry
Love don’t think of poetry
Well ain’t this a cruel ministry
So think of last rites and set me free

Early Woman

With brown eyes soft as can be
This girl is simply looking at me
With love like an honesty punch
I’ve nothing to give, she takes what she wants
We knock on society’s door
Say ‘Can we come in, we’re gifted and poor’
The answer is always the same:
‘you cannot win, ’til you play this game’

When black squares drift into view
I think I can last, it’s her pulls me through
When my elegance is all gone,
She cradles me, carries me along.

Woman, early woman
You care not about the customs and the rules
Woman, early woman
You take us all and turn us into fools.

This city, putrid as sin
All doors are closed, she lets me in
My beautiful queen of the south –
Distant in body, close at the mouth
Words so much clearer than air,
Breathed into me with tolerant care.
Drifting along on my own,
I feel her body cradle my bones.

With the craft of an artisan witch
Could be a siren if that was her wish
As inimitable as a rose
As powerful in and out of her clothes

Woman, early woman
You care not about the customs and the rules
Woman, early woman
You take us all and turn us into fools.

The Blocks of Saint Lukes

Nothing quite as beautiful as pushing open a door
Doesn’t matter what it’s for
But it matters when they take it away

Break down all the final locks, open up for me
You took seven of my twenty three
Now you expect me to just start again

Your broken system could have beaten me
Your broken system could have beaten me

But hey maybe they let me out just in time
Cos I really think I can do it
And I’ll never see a sweeter sky
Over the blocks of St Lukes

Strolling out your prison gates I’ll take the cab fare home
From that judge upon his plastic throne
I’m sure that he can spare the change

I really hope he understands, remembers who I am
That boy made to become a man
For foolish reasons behind his prison walls.

His broken system could have beaten me
His broken system could have beaten me

But hey maybe they let me out just in time
Cos I really think I can do it
And I’ll never see a sweeter sky
Over the blocks of St Lukes

If I Die a Tory

You boys send me letters,
you send me such pretty letters
about money I owe
Which you sadly expect to receive

While You raise the wages
Of the fat cats and famous
Reap what you sow
Bury everyone else in the ground

And your farming is woeful
And your furrows will not hold us
While we sing through the walls
And dance right through your Monday night

Cos To rejoice when you tell us
And to spend when you want us
Is to shackle ourselves
To the rules of the privileged man

If I die a Tory
Then I’ll tell my story
To the 90 year old who died when his fire ran out.

If I die a Tory
Then I’ll rub the shoulders
Of the grateful slaves who put the bricks in my second house

So I’ll take my place now in the slow line to the prison
With the beggars and thieves and the recently self-employed

Cos I don’t fancy dying
In the engines of my country
While you fuck refugees
Leave our taxes in cash by the door.

If I die a Tory
Then I’ll sell my story
To the no money rag which sang, but nobody read

If I die a tory
Then I’ll suck the poison
From the wounds of my victims, bitten and better off dead
From the wounds of my victims, bitten by the Eton snakes

Mother

Mother I went away
I tried a few things
Now I wish you’d say
Time to come home

I got a job like you said
Picked one I loved
And now I can’t pay my rent
Time to come home

Cos I heard tell that you miss me like the day that I left
Well I wish you’d kiss me, tell me that I’m done and I passed this test
Somebody tells me that my bed it lies there still made
While I ant been sleeping, stuck in the middle of this love and hate, this love and hate.

Well I found a girl what you think?
Just wanted a friend
but she rearranged everything
Time to run home

She was the one in my dreams
But when I got her
She tore me apart at the seams
Time to run home

Cos I heard tell that you miss me like the day that I left
Well I wish you’d kiss me, tell me that I’m done and I passed this test
Somebody tells me that my bed it lies there still made
While I ant been sleeping, stuck in the middle of this love and hate, this love and hate.

Doves May Fly

Speaking of kindness
And the way you care for me
Oh my little highness
I’m here at your tender feet
To give it all up to you
Anything you don’t want me to do
Will never happen again
For the sake of my friend
For the sake of my friend

We walk through this desert
Of insolvency and distant dreams
Thinking plans up
Making enemies and building teams
With the lovers, poets and fiends
Trying to carve out momentary scenes
Where some truth can finally be seen in all this mess

Cos the doves may fly from our carrion
If the vultures dive then the evil has won
But our meat will fry in the burning sun, as one.

We move like the ocean
Out of the depths, into the breeze
I told you I love you
I told you to leave me but darling please
Know you’re my best friend
‘Til the very bitter end
When I’m in your eyes, I’ll never pretend

Cos the doves may fly from our carrion
If the vultures dive then the evil has won
But our meat will fry in the burning sun, as one.

Pittsburgh It Is

3 hours out of New York
Which way do they wanna go?
Straight on down through the mountains, in the snow
Well it seems the weather is saying no.
So which way do they wanna go?

And its pedal to the floor
Can we make it? You know I’m not sure,
And I’m not sure about you
Or the one that you’re sat next to.
So please let me sit next to the pretty girl,
She’s scared enough to be in this world.

And I never felt so cold or to feel my brain fizz
Well I know exactly just where I am but not what time it is.
And I never had no cutey to miss
Pittsburgh It is.

So we sit around like refugees on the floor
I cannot take this no more
Let’s get out and see this town
And the wind is blowing the snow down
We got stories and opinions to throw around.

And all I can feel is this cold, hard industrial frown
This is a ghost of a town
And there’s nobody around
So let’s find a bar, shut ourselves away
There ain’t no trains leaving Pittsburgh today

And I never felt so cold or to feel my brain fizz
Well I know exactly just where I am but not what time it is.
And I never had no cutey to miss
Pittsburgh It is.